Funcom announced they're using SpeedTree for the foliage in the upcoming Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. This program creates and programs trees that look great, but don't have a high memory thumbprint.

MMORPG.com just featured an article from Michael Fiegel, a former writer and content developer for Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising. The game was put on hold indefinitely despite high expectations from the MMO community.

The article is a great testament to the hard work that goes into creating the MMOs that we enjoy so much. As Fiegel writes: "You will never meet the young lady in the sewers. You will never discover why she's down there, or what she's looking for, or how that involves a disembodied spirit with a short temper."

I encourage you to visit the heartfelt goodbye to the game, and think twice before skipping the quest text on your next login. Whether you skip it or not, it's still served its purpose.

in my opinion all forms of gold selling and farming of loot to sell
should be stopped,it ruins both the economy and eventually turns away
new players. Take for example Lineage 2, gold selling and buying is
rampant in that game and unless you buy you can't afford anything even
remotely near your level because all the prices have been jacked sky
high. Granted this is because the games been out for forever and
theres an over abundance of money floating around in players hands.

Jake

I think the problem lies with the enforcement of rules against gold selling. In terms of games where gold is strictly obtained in-game, the duty falls to the developers to create ways to keep gold sellers from operating.

With that said, gold sellers will always find a new way to get around smart developers. In WoW, recent changes have brought right-click reporting and auction delivery slowdown into the mix. Even with these, however, gold sellers are still thriving.

I don't think that there is a way around it without designing other ways of attaining items and marking achievements. As long as high-cost items stand out of the reach of casual and less-than-hard-core players, these things are going to happen. The only solid way to prevent gold selling is to make gold bound to a character. Oy, come to think of it one could still give out one's password like certain power-leveling services. It's impossible.

The latter part of your letter deals with economy issues that developers have to deal with. The hand that giveth taketh away via auctions, minigames, and who knows what else. Most developers just don't devote time to it.

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I'd never heard of Stargate Worlds, though I've seen more than a fair share of Stargate SG-1 episodes. I'm pretty excited to see what this game turns out to be like. I think that most MMORPGs based on already-existing licenses are more likely to succeed, simply because a fanbase already exists for them.

Speaking of MMOs based on existing content: send in some e-mail and let me know what you think on those MMOs like this that already exist. Also, let me know what licenses you wish would be developed into an MMO and why.